Just like having blonde hair

The other day a group of my friends were at the one guy's camp helping him get fire wood for a party he's having this coming weekend. I told them I couldn't help load the wood onto his truck because I was having a flare and my wrists were in a lot of pain. One of my friends, actually I consider her one of my best friends, made the comment that "having arthritis was like having blonde hair because neither of them really affect your capability". I was so angry and hurt by this comment I just stood there silent. I can't believe that this is what people really think of this horrible disease. Just because I don't look sick, doesn't mean that I'm not in pain. 

People wonder why I never talk about my arthritis and this is exactly the reason that I don't. They don't understand because I don't appear to be physically ill so my pain must not be real. Just because you can't see something doesn't mean that it doesn't exist. 

One long day

As you all know I had my jaw injected yesterday. I've decided to approach this post a little differently and I hope you all like it. 

Let me walk you through my day yesterday...

5:00 a.m. - Woke up (I always thought 5 a.m. was a myth...)

5:30 a.m. - On the road to Hershey (There was soo much traffic.. who would have thought?) 

7:00 a.m. - Arrived at the hospital (It took my mom and me about 20 mins. to find a parking spot)

7:30 a.m. - Arrived at the Same Day Unit.  This is where I changed into a hospital gown, peed in a cup, and had stuff about me entered into a computer.

8:00 a.m. to 8:20 a.m. - Anesthesia (it took them five needle sticks until they could start my IV. I have incredibly small veins)

8:30 a.m. - Procedure (the doctor used a CT machine to guide where the needle needed to be placed to inject me)

9:00 a.m. - Recovery room (I was fast asleep, but I had my mom write down the times so I could make this blog post.  Apparently I swear like a sailor when I wake up from anesthesia.)

10:00 a.m. - Woke up and the nurse gave me a percocet (I was, and still am, in an incredible amount of pain so they gave me a pain killer).  Then I went back to sleep.

1:00 p.m. - Threw up (Oh the lovely side effects of anesthesia). 

1:30 p.m. - Finally got to go home (What an incredibly long and exhausting day for both my mom and me)
3:30 p.m. - Arrived home, ate some mac and cheese and slept. 

Third time's a charm

Tomorrow I'm going to get my jaw injected with steroids for the third time. I've talked about the steroid injections in previous posts, but I'll do a little recap to refresh your memory. 

I'm scheduled to have my jaw injected at 7:00 a.m. in Hershey.   This means my mom and I will have to wake up around 4:30 a.m. because we live a hour and a half away from the hospital. Once we get there and I get all situated I'll be put under anesthesia so they can inject the joint. The actual procedure typically doesn't take long, or so I'm told, but it takes me forever to wake up from the anesthesia. Once I finally wake up, I typically get nauseous from the anesthesia.  This means I get to stay at the hospital for several more hours. When I finally get to go home, I'm normally in so much pain that I take pain killer and fall asleep.  Then I wake up to be in more pain. In the past when I had the injection, I had to miss about a week of school because of the extreme pain and swelling. 


I'll try to post tomorrow after I get home, but if I'm not able to I'll post Wednesday to let you all know how it went. 

Happy Easter!!

Since it's Easter break I've decided to take a break from talking about arthritis and share some cute Easter pictures. Enjoy, and happy Easter everyone! 

Kids get arthritis too

A lot of times children with chronic illnesses feel alone, like there is no one else out there who knows what they're going through. When I was first diagnosed, I felt the same way.  Then I found this website where other children with JA share their stories, and you can even share yours. They have three catagories they seperate the stories into.  They are kids, tweens, and teens. This makes it easy for children of any age to find someone that they can relate to. If you want to visit this site just click here.

Flare (verb) - a sudden recurrence or worsening of symptoms

When I woke up this morning, my joints felt stiffer than usual.  It seemed to take longer for my ankles and wrists to loosen up.  This morning stiffness and fatigue lasted all day.  I’m having what is known as a “flare”.  Flares can last days, weeks, or even months!   I talked to my doctor and she wants me to continue on the same meds for another 3 weeks before she will think about switching me.  So I guess that I’ll just have to keep my fingers crossed hoping that the medicines start helping and deal with the pain until then.  She did call in a prescription for a medicated patch . .. . but that would cost over $250 for one month even though we have health insurance and a prescription plan!!  So not only is my JIA hurting me physically and emotionally, it is also hurting us financially.   

Change of Plans

When you have a chronic illness like arthritis, some days are better than others. Last week was a pretty good week. I woke up in the morning and  felt well rested and alert . . . . well as alert as one could possibly be at 6:00 a.m.  I walked up and down the stairs at school a billion times.  I worked on my Junior paper.  Things seemed pretty normal.


So my Aunt calls Friday night and wants to take me shopping in Harrisburg on Saturday.  I'm like, of course, it's time to get new spring clothes!


When I hop out of bed Saturday morning, I yell out in pain.  My "driving" ankle was killing me.  I had to  basically limp to the bathroom which is less than 20 feet from my bedroom.  I try walking downstairs, and it's more like a hobble.  My Aunt was supposed to pick me up in an hour.  As much as I wanted to go, I knew that I wouldn't be able to walk around the mall for hours with the way my ankle felt.  


So JIA changed my plans.  Instead of shopping, I spent the morning on the couch watching Jersey Shore.